(WASHINGTON D.C.) – The Corporation for National and Community Service will award more than $3.4 million in supplemental grants to allow seven AmeriCorps programs to expand their efforts to help families and communities recover from last fall’s Gulf Coast hurricanes, David Eisner, the agency’s CEO, announced today at a Capitol Hill forum on the role of AmeriCorps in disaster relief.

Four of the grants will go directly to national organizations – Habitat for Humanity International, the Local Initiatives Support Coalition, the National Association of Community Health Centers, and the National Association of Public Interest Law – that offer needed services in multiple states. The remaining three grants will go through state service commissions to nonprofit organizations based in those states: the Meridian Housing Authority (Mississippi), the West Seneca Youth Bureau (New York), and the Capitol Area Homeless Alliance (Texas). A complete list of grant amounts and activities to be supported can be found at the end of this release.

All told, the grants will allow 378 additional AmeriCorps members to provide a wide range of services to those affected by the storms, from building homes to offering financial counseling and access to health care services. The AmeriCorps members will multiply their reach and effectiveness by recruiting and supervising hundreds of other volunteers. If all the members supported by the grants announced today complete their terms of service, they can collectively earn more than $1.1 million in AmeriCorps Education Awards to help pay for their college education or to pay back qualified student loans.

"AmeriCorps is playing a critical role in helping people put their lives back together after this terrible tragedy, and these grants will significantly expand those efforts" said Eisner, whose agency oversees AmeriCorps. "We think it is essential to offer all the support we can to our partners, who are working so hard to help the people of this region.”

The grants are part of a total of nearly $14 million in AmeriCorps funds that the Corporation has set aside specifically to support AmeriCorps hurricane recovery efforts. Of that amount, more than $9.4 million has been awarded thus far. If the more than 700 members supported by these special hurricane recovery grants complete their terms of service, they will collectively earn more than $2.6 million in AmeriCorps Education Awards.

The grants mean that hundreds of new service opportunities will be available for Americans to help out in the areas devastated by last year’s series of hurricanes.

“I especially hope that Gulf coast residents will apply for these positions – they can help rebuild their communities and help themselves at the same time, gaining valuable skills and earning money for college,” said Elizabeth Seale, the Corporation’s Chief Operating Officer, who is also Acting Director of AmeriCorps. Individuals interested in serving in AmeriCorps can learn more about the program and apply online at www.americorps.gov. More information is also available by calling 1-800-942-2677.

To date, more than 13,000 national service participants have contributed to the hurricane relief and recovery effort across the country. Working in cooperation with the Red Cross, FEMA, local nonprofit groups, and local and state authorities, these participants have coordinated the warehousing and distribution of donated goods, provided meals and social services to evacuees, answered phones at call centers, cleared debris from homes and streets, provided information on available housing, organized children’s activities, raised funds, and managed community volunteers, among many other activities.

AmeriCorps Disaster Relief Augmentation Grants

January-February 2006

Habitat for Humanity International ($1,050,530)

The new grant will allow Habitat to add 100 new AmeriCorps members, who will assist in the delivery of a significant number of homes next year. Members will work primarily through Habitat’s Operation Home Delivery to address housing needs in the affected Gulf region, as well as in communities where evacuees have settled. The members would also help Habitat affiliates in affected areas accommodate and retain as many new community volunteers as possible to assist with the rebuilding effort.

Meridian Housing Authority ($850,300)

The 116 AmeriCorps members to be supported by this grant will renovate and refurbish Meridian Housing Authority Units that were damaged by the hurricanes and prepare the units for occupation by evacuees and MHA residents. In addition, the members will partner with the Biloxi Housing Authority to remove debris and refurbish housing units for residents of Biloxi. (Sub-grantee of the Mississippi Commission for Volunteer Service)

National Association of Community Health Centers ($666,650)

The 40 new AmeriCorps members to be supported by this grant will work primarily with survivors and evacuees in Mississippi and Louisiana. Operating site placement will be coordinated through the Mississippi Primary Health Care Association and the Louisiana Primary Care Association, whichrepresent federally funded, private non-profit and public community health centers across the hard-hit region. Among other activities, the members will link evacuees to health care services and navigate them through the process, coordinate volunteers and donations at health centers, and assist evacuees in applying for emergency aid. (Note: This grant was approved in late December 2005.)

National Association of Public Interest Law ($298,075)

Serving through the Association’s Equal Justice Works program at a variety of sites in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, the additional 75 AmeriCorps members to be supported by this grant will expand existing pro bono legal services to low-income families affected by Hurricane Katrina in the areas of housing, family law, and bankruptcy. The funds will also allow the Association to expand its Gulf region summer program for law students by 65 positions.

West Seneca Youth Bureau ($236,043)

With this grant, 22 AmeriCorps members will serve on teams of up to six members and one staff member each for deployment to the Gulf Coast for four back-to-back, three-month project assignments to aid the reconstruction process in both Louisiana and Mississippi. (Sub-grantee of the New York Commission for National and Community Service)

Local Initiatives Support Coalition ($197,385)

The 15 AmeriCorps members supported by the grant will provide homeownership counseling, financial counseling, and referral services to evacuees of the hurricanes. Members will also create a census of evacuees in their respective communities in order to help communities in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi gauge and respond to the need for housing and other services as a result of the influx of evacuees from the disaster areas.

Capitol Area Homeless Alliance of Austin, Texas ($79,650)

The Corporation for National and Community Service provides opportunities for Americans of all ages and backgrounds to serve their communities and country through three programs: Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, and Learn and Serve America. Together with the USA Freedom Corps, the Corporation is working to build a culture of citizenship, service, and responsibility in America. For more information, visit www.nationalservice.gov.

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